Look for small, dark spots on your floors, carpets, and furniture. In fact, these might be flea droppings. The more you find, the more severe the infestation.
As few as 20 fleas might mean your pet is infested, while the most could be between 200 to 300. Ignoring a few fleas can quickly lead to an infestation on your dog and in your home,2 because two adult fleas could lead to hundreds of eggs and pupae. Fleas start feeding on blood within minutes of landing on your pet.
In most cases, it takes three to four months to completely get rid of a flea infestation since it takes fleas this long to go through their life stages, according to the American Kennel Club.
For some serious infestations, steam cleaning before vacuuming is necessary. The heat will kill almost all of the adult fleas, but may not kill all of the eggs. Continue to vacuum every other day after the steam cleaning to make sure you are killing fleas as they hatch. Some might still make it to the adult stage.
You might be asking yourself will fleas eventually go away? While some could last 2 – 3 weeks, they could also live for up to 12 months on the host it finds, so it is unlikely they will go away on their own. Fleas can also reproduce very quickly by laying eggs in carpet, bedding, or garden prolonging the infestation.
A recommended chemical product to control fleas on pets would be Petcor and Martin's Prefurred. Petcor 2 Flea and Tick Spray is a pyrethroid-based chemical product that has an IGR (Insect Growth Regulator) that will kill the undeveloped stages of fleas (eggs, larval, and pupal) for a month on cats or dogs.
Fleas have a complex life cycle. At some stages of their life cycle they are resistant to insecticides and other flea control products. In order to get rid of fleas in all stages of the life cycle, two or more follow-up treatments within 5-10 days after the first application are needed.
For months, unseen young stages will continue to mature and emerge as adults. If a new female fleas finds an untreated animal, she'll take a blood meal, mate, and lay eggs within 1-2 days. Each female produces around 25 eggs a day. Thus, re-infestation can occur quickly.
Help your pet break the flea life cycle with a flea treatment. Clean the house thoroughly on the same day. Wash all your pet's bedding at a high temperature. Vacuum your carpets and furniture to remove eggs, larvae and pupae, and discard the vacuum cleaner bag.
Fleas are blood-sucking parasites, and if they continue feasting on cats or dogs for any length of time, the pet may develop anemia. This condition can cause lethargy at the very least and may even cause death in puppies, kittens or older pets.
Every pet owner should be aware of the signs of a possible flea infestation. They include: Your dog (or cat) is scratching. Even if you don't catch fleas red-handed, if you see your pet scratching or biting at its fur, fleas may well be the culprit.
Get Steamy. Once you have vacuumed your floors and upholstery, consider using a steamer or washing coverings in hot water. The heat will kill any additional fleas that may have been left behind. Other surfaces such as countertops and tables can also be cleaned with hot water.
In just 30 days, 10 female fleas can multiply to over a quarter million new fleas in different life stages. Female fleas start producing eggs within 24 to 48 hours after taking their first blood meal and can lay up to 50 eggs per day. Optimum conditions for flea larvae are 65-80 ºF with shaded areas and high humidity.
The flea life cycle, from egg to to adult, completes in 17 to 26 days in homes. However, after treatment, people will often continue seeing fleas for around 8 weeks. This is because after pupating, cocooned adults can stay quiescent (dormant-like) for up to 5 months while they wait to detect a host (heat and pressure).
- As a general rule if you can pick fleas off an animal relatively easily; they are already slowing down and are busy dying. Healthy fleas are too fast to catch. Nothing can stop new fleas jumping from the environment onto a flea treated animal, and it can be hard to tell where they have picked them up from sometimes…
Fleas cannot fly, but they move by jumping from object to object. It can take up to 3 months to break a total flea life cycle by using monthly flea treatments. For indoor flea control, vacuuming all floors, carpets, baseboards, pet bedding and furniture will help remove adult fleas and eggs.
CAPSTAR® (nitenpyram) starts killing fleas within 30 minutes to give your pet quick relief.
The mixture of the warm water of your washing machine and the detergents that you use should be enough to kill most of the fleas and eggs that have taken up residence in your laundry.
Step 2: Flea Control: Ladybirds and Fire Ants
The nematode is the number one choice in a battle with yard fleas, because it has been designed to target this particular pest. Nonetheless, you need all the help you can get. Ladybugs are a recognized exterminator of fleas, and not only.
Most successful flea treatment programs require at least 2-3 treatments at 14-day intervals using both an insecticide for the adult fleas and an Insect Growth Regulator (IGR) to prevent immature stages of fleas from developing into breeding adults.
Both thrive in warmer climates and fleas are particularly favorable to humid conditions. Fleas are most active in the early spring, summer, and fall. Adult fleas may have a hard time surviving harsh winters. But flea eggs, flea pupae, and larvae can survive all year.